Four US military helicopter crew die in British crash

London: A US military helicopter crashed while on a low-level training exercise in eastern England on Tuesday, killing all four crew members.

A US defence official later confirmed the accident killed the four US Air Force crew members on board.

The 48th Fighter Wing response teams were on site and beginning their investigations.

Norfolk Police also issued a statement saying that next of kin will be informed before further details on the victims are released.

The force revealed that the aircraft, a highly modified version of the Army Black Hawk helicopter, may have been carrying live ammunition.

“It is not believed that anyone in the surrounding area has been injured, “said the statement. “However, there remains a 400-metre cordon around the site, which is standard for this type of incident. An assessment is still being carried out around the munitions which may be on the aircraft and advice from the military is being taken.”

Around a dozen emergency vehicles from the fire brigade, coastguard and police remained at the scene at 11.00pm.

Superintendent Roger Wiltshire, of Norfolk Police, added: “The helicopter had a crew of four and sadly at this time we believe that all four crew members have died.

“We will shortly be making an assessment of the scene to make sure it is safe.

“We believe there is some ammunition on board the helicopter.”The US base at Lakenheath confirmed that the chopper came during a training mission outside Cley-Next-The-Sea.

During Operation Desert Storm they provided combat search and rescue coverage for coalition forces in Iraq and more than 20 were deployed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 in support of recovery operations in New Orleans.

Today, Pave Hawks are being used in support of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.